New ranking puts Adelaide in elite class

Tuesday, 25 July 2006

The University of Adelaide is in the elite class of Australian universities when it comes to research, according to a paper published this week.

The paper, "Ranking and Clustering Australian University Research Performance, 1998-2002" lists the University of Adelaide in the top two national research rankings based on academic staff numbers.

Authors Dr Abbas Valadkhani and Professor Andrew Worthington ranked the research performance of 36 Australian universities in a five-year period between 1998 and 2002, using a new formula. The article appears in the current issue of the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management.

Research performance was measured according to audited numbers of PhD completions, publications and grants and analysed in both total and per academic staff terms.

The Group of Eight (which includes the University of Adelaide) outperformed all others in research performance. Based on academic staff output, the University of Adelaide was ranked second, below the University of Melbourne and above the University of Western Australia. In total research output terms, the University ranked seventh - the highest ranked South Australian university on both measures.

A total of 1109 University of Adelaide academics completed on average 172 PhDs, had 1236 papers published and attracted grants totalling $64 million per annum over the period 1998-2002.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Alan Johnson, said the findings confirm the University of Adelaide's reputation as a world class, research-intensive university.

"This is an outstanding result which demonstrates the University's commitment to excellence and its highly productive academic staff," Professor Johnson said.

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